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Do you want to make a difference in your community? Do you like social media? Are you someone who digs doing cool stuff with cool people? Do you love supporting local small business? If so, welcome to the #BuffCashMob!

It’s the retail operation of the Latin American Cultural Association, featuring affordable fair trade goods from Latin America, South America, Africa and the Caribbean. Through their operation, they work to preserve ancient arts & crafts of many hispanic indigenous communities that wish to maintain traditional ways of life while strengthening North American concern by helping to understand and appreciate other cultures and present day conditions.

It’s an awesome force for good in our city and it deserves our support.

This is a tough economy and many small businesses in Buffalo and WNY are looking for ways to increase cash flow. That’s where we, the loyal soldiers of the Buffalo Spirit come in. These businesses are rebuilding this city and working to make it a better place and we should return their investment with one of our own. The goal will be to get 75-100 people to “flash mob” a local establishment and spend $10-$20 each on the goods and services offered. No discounts, no coupons, no special deals. Just support our local merchants by spending $10 in their place of business.

Think of it as a reverse-Groupon. Instead of businesses offering crazy discounts to get people to mob their stores, the Buffalo hivemind is going to take the initiative and spend money for goods & services at posted prices. The best way to promote and grow Buffalo business is to support and patronize them.

So, join us for some fun at El Buen Amigo and support Buffalo business!

As part of the International Cash Mob Day festivities, the Buffalo Cash Mob will visit the City of Buffalo’s oldest and most historic tavern – Ulrich’s – on Saturday, March 24th at 5PM. Have a ticket for the Sabres game at First Niagara Center that night? Stop in for some pre-game festivities and have some beer with the fans. Looking for a place to watch the game? Ulrich’s is perfect!

The goal is to get ~100 people to “flash mob” a local establishment and spend $10-$20 each on the goods and services offered. No discounts, no coupons, no special deals. Just support our local merchants by spending $10 in their place of business. Think of it as a reverse-Groupon.

Instead of businesses offering crazy discounts to get people to mob their stores, the Buffalo hivemind takes the initiative and spends money for goods & services at posted prices. The best way to promote and grow Buffalo business is to support and patronize them.

Ulrich’s Tavern has the distinction of being Buffalo’s oldest documented continuously operating tavern/restaurant having been established in the fall of 1868 and operating for over 50,000 days. Today it sits in the middle of the Buffalo-Niagara Medical Campus at its original site and building at 674 Ellicott St., corner of Virginia St. It’s the German Restaurant with the Irish Pub. Featuring homemade German-American food and a great draught beer selection anchored by Buffalo’s home town brewery, Flying Bison Brewery and the finest beers of Europe.

The Daley family has run Ulrich’s for over 50 years and is now second generation owned. Ulrich’s’ purpose for over a 140 years has never changed – to provide a public house where one can enjoy food, drink and camaraderie. Ulrich’s stands as a sentinel to Buffalo’s glorious past as well as its ever changing and hopeful future.

As cash mobs did originate in Buffalo, we’ll need to show that we know how to get out and support our local businesses during this international event. What better way then to have a few beers (and maybe some potato pancakes and sausages) at Buffalo’s coolest tavern?

Be there! Spread the word by posting this to your Facebook page, inviting your friends, and sharing the link on twitter with #BuffCashMob.

1. The cash mob idea that started here in Buffalo made it on to Public Radio International yesterday, spent the day at the top of Reddit.com and was seen by about 5MM web readers. So, a good day for the idea as it continues its organic growth throughout the world. Yes, the world.

Meanwhile, back in Buffalo, we hosted our seventh cash mob and it was a tremendous success. The event was held between 5-7PM last night at Thin Ice on Elmwood and was attended by over 100 people. At the conclusion of the night, the store owner reported 10x her typical sales and that money not only went to support her store, but also the local artists who stock her shelves. Due to the way we organize the event, the staff was able to spend time with these new customers, build a relationship and hopefully build repeat business. Afterwards, many of the attendees crossed the street and enjoyed dinner and drinks at The Acropolis and stopped by Chow Chocolat for some dessert. A very successful night.

In the next week or so, I’ll have some exciting news about the establishment of several suburban cash mobs in WNY as well as some new partnerships. Each time we host this event, it’s surprising to see how many people respond enthusiastically and support our courageous local entrepreneurs. Thank you for your support!

2. As usual, Matt Taibbi nails it. His take on the Republican debate on Wednesday night and the overall orthodoxy of the current party.

This is the last stage in any paranoid illness. You start by suspecting that somebody out there is out to get you; in the end, you’re sure that even the people who love you the most under your own roof, your own doctors, your parents, your wife and your children, they’re in on the plot. To quote Matt Damon in the almost-underrated spy film The Good Shepherd, they became convinced that there’s “a stranger in the house.”

This is where the Republican Party is now. They’ve run out of foreign enemies to point fingers at. They’ve already maxed out the rhetoric against us orgiastic, anarchy-loving pansexual liberal terrorists. The only possible remaining explanation for their troubles is that their own leaders have failed them. There is a stranger in the house!

Mr. Locurto, you have been lobbied by a very few people to vote against a bar on the second floor and shame on you for that. I have 1000 signatures of people supporting Acropolis. I have gone to great lengths to convert many of the opposition into supporters. The EVA even changed their tune when (EVA Executive Director) Justin (Azzarella) came into the council chambers and stated on public record that the EVA isn’t opposed to the bar upstairs, the 2nd floor patio, or a music license. But that isn’t enough for you.

In the end, my councilman and his protege Brad Hamm has been playing dirty politics with me and I will expose this because I already know I lost my dream restaurant with his decision. I lost a lot but I didn’t lose everything. What you lost Mike is a financial supporter, a voter, and hundreds upon hundreds of voters who will never put trust in you with their vote again.

I’m writing a larger story on this issue, but you can read his blog for some backstory.

Fact Of The Day: Apple computer co-founder Steve Jobs was born in San Francisco on this day in 1955.

Quote Of The Day: “It would be almost unbelievable, if history did not record the tragic fact, that men have gone to war and cut each other’s throats because they could not agree as to what was to become of them after their throats were cut.” – Walter P. Stacy

Why: Because you want to invest in the businesses that have invested in Buffalo. Because you love social media and making a difference in your community. Because you want to do cool things with cool people. Because you cast 2351 votes in the final round of voting and chose this business!

Stop in, check out an anchor of Elmwood retail and support their business as best you can.

This little idea, born in Buffalo, has now spread to over 70 cities and three countries. It’s received coverage in the Wall Street Journal, Forbes, Inc. and on NBC/MSNBC, NPR, and dozens of web outlets. Be sure to come out and show America that we’re still the home of the cash mob and that we support our local businesses like no other city in America.

Thin Ice received 956 votes and the Western New York Book Arts Center received 945. It was a close race, but Thin Ice won with a huge burst of votes last Friday as the contest came to an end. WNYBAC is an awesome local organization and I highly encourage you to visit the Book Arts Center and sample the wonderful offerings. As this contest has grown, the second place finisher one month usually emerges as the winner the following month. So, let’s keep WNYBAC in mind for March.

So, what is Thin Ice?

Thin Ice Gift Shop is committed to supporting the local arts community by selling locally hand crafted, one of a kind gift items. At Thin Ice we believe in supporting the country we live in and so everything at Thin Ice is hand crafted in America! If we can’t speak directly to the artist we won’t carry the work.

At Thin Ice you will find hand crafted, one of a kind jewelry; oven, microwave, and dishwasher safe pottery that is not only one of a kind and beautiful but also fully functional; a wide variety of glass kaleidoscopes; hand turned wooden bowls made from trees from the October storm; handblown and hand fused glass vases, bowls, suncatchers, amongst many other glass items; metal wall pieces to decorate your home; hand knit scarves, hand sewn bags; wood and glass jewelry boxes, and much, much more.

The website provides just a sampling of the work available in the store.

Essentially, a local brick and mortar version of Etsy featuring sustainable products.

After we visit the store, we’ll meet up across the street at The Acropolis for a beer. Or, we can visit last month’s cash mob winner, Chow Chocolat, which is right next door to Thin Ice.

By the way, I’m often asked why it is that we don’t actually “mob” the business by gathering en masse and visiting the store as a horde. The original idea of this was to allow the vendor or business to establish relationships with new customers, and not just get a quick $20 from a hundred customers. To allow people to visit the store, meet the owner and to get to know the backstory of both. This way, we build new and stable relationships which can stabilize monthly business. We can “mob” if the crowd thinks that would be fun, but we’ve been pretty successful ($10,000 spent at 6 local businesses) thus far. Let me know what you think.

If we can get 10% of the voters to visit the store, we could be looking at over 200 people shopping at Thin Ice this Thursday. So, lets convert those votes into dollars.

Invest in businesses that invest in us. Support Thin Ice at the next Buffalo Cash Mob.

Do you want to make a difference in your community? Do you like social media? Are you someone who digs doing cool stuff with cool people? Do you love supporting local small business? Well, welcome to the #BuffCashMob! We’ll be mobbing the next business sometime between 17-22 February. The date and time depend on what business you choose to receive a visit from the mob.

This little Buffalo-born idea has now spread to 44 cities and has made it all the way to Canada and England. It’s kind of a thing. In Buffalo alone, we’ve generated nearly $10,000 of revenue for local businesses while garnering dozens of news stories which help grow the customer base for these plucky little entrepreneurs. Pretty cool, right? Still not sure what a CashMob is? Well, click here for the background.

This is a tough economy and many small businesses in Buffalo and WNY are looking for ways to increase cash flow. That’s where we, the organized social media denizens of Western New York, come in. These businesses are rebuilding this city and working to make it a better place and we should return their investment with one of our own.The goal will be to get ~100 people to “flash mob” a local establishment and spend $10-$20 each on the goods and services offered. No discounts, no coupons, no special deals. Just support our local merchants by spending $10 in their place of business.

Think of it as a reverse-Groupon. Instead of businesses offering crazy discounts to get people to mob their stores, the Buffalo hivemind is going to take the initiative and spend money for goods & services at posted prices. The best way to promote and grow Buffalo business is to support and patronize them.

Step 1: Nominate your favorite business in the comments section of this post, on Twitter using the hashtag #BuffCashMob, on our Facebook Page, or you can email me at chrissmithbuffalo@gmail.com

Step 2: Tell your friends about it and ask them to also submit their nomination.

Step 3: After I receive all the nominations, you’ll be asked to vote for one of the top three nominees.

Step 4: Come out and mob with us!

I’d prefer you choose businesses who are members of Buffalo First! as every member of the organization is a certified, locally-owned business. Their full, sortable, and searchable membership listing can be found by clicking here.

Last month’s runners-up were (in no particular order), The Broadway Market, Westside Stories, GiGi’s, Explore and More Children’s Museum, and The Sterling Tavern.

1. The Buffalo Cash Mob was held last Friday and it was an awesome success. Over the course of two hours, Chow Chocolat had about 75-80 people pass through their doors to spend between $10-$20 each. The local chocolatier also received a bevy of earned media coverage with broadcast stories on Channel 4 & 7 with Channel 4 doing a live spot during the 5 & 6PM newscasts. Channel 2 had done a story the previous night and Buffalo Business First was also on hand to cover the celebration of a local small business. Many thanks to all of those who attended this event and I’ll be incorporating some feedback into our plans for the February cash mob.

If you came, let me know what you thought. If you weren’t able to attend, let me know why. Next time, I’m going to encourage our voters to think outside Elmwood and Downtown and branch out into other areas of the city. Perhaps we’ll expand the hours or shorten them up to truly make it a flash cash mob.

Whatever we do for the next event, please continue to support Chow Chocolat and the other fine member businesses of Buffalo First. Reward their investment in our community by investing in them.

2. There has been an exceptional amount of talk by Republican Presidential candidates about pre-emptive war against Iran. Sure, we just ended a land war in Asia, why not get into another one, right? They’re a threat to Israel! They’re islamofascistshomicidebombers! I mean, they hate us for our freedoms!

The wave of elections won by Conservatives and Tea Party candidates in states across America in 2010 resulted in a rising tide of right wing theist legislation. No surprise, that.

4. Free ponies for everyone! Zombie preparedness! Time travel research! This is Vermin Supreme and he paid his $1,000 to get on the New Hampshire Presidential Primary ballot. Sure, he wears a boot on his head and seems crazy, but is fully funded time travel research all that different than Newt Gingrich’s proposal to conduct mining operations on the moon? This is the only guy on a ballot in New Hampshire who makes Rick Santorum seems sane…well, not really.

While U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, former U.S. President Bill Clinton and others vowed that the world would help Haiti “build back better,” and $2.38 billion has been spent, Haitians have hardly seen any building at all.

At the time, grand ambitions were voiced for a Haiti rebuilt on modern lines. New housing would replace shantytowns and job-generating industry would be spread out to ease the human crush of Port-au-Prince, the sprawling capital with its 3 million people.

The inability to rebuild is almost as great a tragedy as the earthquake. An eye-opening and discouraging report.

Of the 620 bills sponsored by Ron Paul during his long career in the House of Representatives, only four have ever made it to a vote on the House floor and only one of those became an actual law. An analysis by The Washington Post shows that Paul’s success rate of 0.2 percent falls far below that of most legislators, as Paul has chosen to stand up for his personal crusades, rather that build coalitions for more popular, but less ambitious, proposals.

His governing style as President would be a lot like the way Carl Paladino promised to govern, lots of bluster, lots of ideology, little sense of leadership and an inability to compromise and make progress. No thanks.

7. Super-PACs will decide who becomes President of the United States in 2012. Sure, we still go out and vote, but the SuperPACs will determine the message to the voters which will inform our votes. What’s a SuperPAC, you ask? Oh, let me explain.

The 2010 election marks the rise of a new political committee, dubbed “super PACs,” and officially known as “independent-expenditure only committees,” which can raise unlimited sums from corporations, unions and other groups, as well as individuals. The super PACs were made possible by two judicial decisions. The first was the U.S. Supreme Court decision in Citizens United v. Federal Election Commissionwhich held that government may not prohibit unions and corporations from making independent expenditures about politics. Soon after, in Speechnow.org v. FEC, the Federal Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit held that contributions to groups that only make independent expenditures could not be limited. Super PACs are not allowed to coordinate directly with candidates or political parties and are required to disclose their donors, just like traditional PACs.

Mitt Romney’s SuperPAC played a very large role in his victory in Iowa and each candidate will rely heavily on the unlimited and untraceable monies these groups can spend in the primary and general election. Late last week, Billionaire Sheldon Adelson made a $5MM contribution to Newt Gingrich’s SuperPAC in order to fund the SuperPAC’s campaign activities and advertising on Newt’s behalf. Previously, Adelson would have been subjected to federal campaign contribution maximums, but that’s no longer an issue for a billionaire looking to buy a favorable election result.

Republican SuperPACs have raised a ton of money in this election cycle.

More than 80 percent of giving to Super PACs so far has come from just 58 donors, according to the Center for Responsive Politics analysis of the latest data, which covers the first half of 2011. The Republican groups have raised $17.6 million and the Democratic groups $7.6 million. Those numbers will balloon, with American Crossroads, the main Republican Super PAC, aiming to raise $240 million.)

Founded by former aides to Mitt Romney, this group is expected to maintain the minimum legal distance between itself and Romney’s official campaign. Romney himself even spoke at a Manhattan fundraiser for the group, though — apparently for legal reasons — he left the room before an explicit appeal for money was made, the Times reported.

“If they have a good time than hopefully they will tell someone else,” says Scott Wisz, owner of Chow Chocolat. “You know that’s how we like to grow our business…I think we’re more of a word-of-mouth type venture. If people came here and had a good experience than hopefully they will tell their friends. And that’s really what we’re hoping for.”

This “Cash Mob” event will take place from 4pm-6pm on Friday, January 6, 2011 at Chow Chocolat, located at 715 Elmwood Avenue in Buffalo.

When a small business makes an investment in our community, we should reward their investment with our own. That’s the entire point of this effort. Do you want more local business in Buffalo? Do you want to see more retailers opening up in the City of Buffalo? Well, here’s how you can help make it happen. Support them and support Buffalo First!

Just to make things clear for everyone, I make no money nor receive any goods or services in exchange for organizing this effort and neither does Artvoice. This is simply a way of thanking entrepreneurs for showing the courage to open or maintain a storefront in a difficult economic time.

Cuomo’s comments came a day after he unveiled a $1 billion economic-development package for Buffalo and possibly some area communities over the next five years. The money and tax breaks are to be spent on companies willing to invest $5 billion in expansion or relocation efforts.

“I told everyone today this is not a blank check. We want jobs. We want leverage, and this is for new business opportunities,” Cuomo said.

If the local council does not find businesses willing to locate, the money won’t be spent, the governor said.

While relocating businesses to Buffalo should be part of a regional economic development strategy, it shouldn’t be THE strategy. We need sustainable, headquarters-based industry in Buffalo. No more back offices, no more secondary or tertiary datacenters, no more regional offices or secondary manufacturing plants for businesses headquartered in other areas of the country. That type of development is susceptible to whims of corporations looking to trim costs and increase margins.

How about we carve out a small portion of this money to develop regional incubators or startup accelerators for technology? Not the type of technology found in biomedical or pharmaceutical research companies which can take years upon years to produce results, but angel and venture stage funding for software and web entrepreneurs. Perhaps focus on utilizing our darkened manufacturing facilities to attract companies looking for space and funding for small, advanced manufacturing processes? If we really have a billion dollars at our disposal, let’s not just focus on sending Tom Kucharski and the folks from Buffalo Niagara Enterprise around the country with pamphlets and a wad of cash for bribes. Let’s build our own economy.

As Paul Graham once said, “If you could get the right ten thousand people to move from Silicon Valley to Buffalo, Buffalo would become Silicon Valley.” He footnotes this by saying we could probably turn Buffalo around with 500 people or less. If they were the right kind of people. Put some money on the table for people to come here and DEVELOP business rather than relocating businesses at a high cost.

Incidentally, how pissed off are the people in Rochester? Kodak is going out of business, they face significant challenges of their own and their former Mayor is the Lieutenant Governor, which you would think would give them the inside track on state funding. Including the monies handed out during the Regional Economic Development competitions late last year, the current scorecard is $1.1 Billion for Buffalo and $68 Million for Rochester.

3. A Canadian comedy troupe has seen enough of our Republican Presidential candidates and they’ve decided to throw their toques in the ring with an announcement that they are forming their own American political party.

My suggestion is that it would be more profitable to treat the Iowa Caucuses as a “ritual,” rather than an informational or news event. There may be a modicum of information emerging from the caucuses themselves; they may tell us something–a little bit–about the relative standing of Mitt Romney, Rick Santorum, Ron Paul, Newt Gingrich, Rick Perry, and Michelle Bachmann. But caucus coverage is more profitably viewed as a campaign ritual, in which the tribe of political reporters (like Chuck Todd or Mark Halperin) and pundits (an E.J. Dionne or a David Brooks) and pollsters (like, say, Frank Luntz) and operatives (or former operatives like James Carville or Donna Brazille) claim interpretive rights over the election of 2012.

Every four years they gather in Iowa to affirm that their way of seeing is the way to see a presidential campaign. They say they are bringing you news of what happened in Iowa. But what they’re really doing is maintaining their little society of insiders across yet another election cycle. That is what rituals do. They preserve community over time

The theater of it all is almost too much to bear.

5. Corporate profits have rebounded to pre-recession levels, but unemployment is still high and corporate tax revenue has not yet rebounded to pre-recession levels.

Why? because fuck you, that’s why.

Corporate tax revenue has plummeted for several reasons, but one of the big ones is the growth of deductions, loopholes, and outright tax evasion that helps companies limit, or entirely eliminate, their income tax liability. 30 major corporations, in fact, paid no corporate income tax over the last three years, while making $160 billion in profits.

Just a weekly reminder about why the #Occupy movement began and what we should actually be pissed off about in this country.

Quote Of The Day: “If we do not maintain justice, justice will not maintain us.” – Francis Bacon

At Chow Chocolat, we create artisan handmade chocolates using only the finest natural ingredients available. As the only true chocolatier in Buffalo our fine quality chocolate without the use of artificial ingredients is what makes us the best in Buffalo. Our organic free trade coffee and espresso products are served in recycled biodegradable cups, thus reducing environmental impact. We serve freshly baked pastries and baked goods daily.

Artvoice TV’s Judy Sperry visited Chow Chocolat last year and submitted this video.

Chow Chocolat has a 98% approval rating on UrbanSpoon and was favorably reviewed by the well-regarded food, drink and restaurant review outlet, BuffaloChow.com.

Color us impressed.

It felt like the start of something more fun, a coffee and candy shop with personality. There was live music in the place when we visited that Saturday night, art from a very talented local artist hanging on the wall, and small clusters of customers – families, other performers waiting for the open mic, and us – sitting at the place’s few tables. The drink menu was a mix of coffees, hot chocolates, and tea; we sipped on the latter, strolled around to look at the art, and made another pass through the chocolates, getting extra pieces of gingerbread and a bag of the restaurant’s bagged, chocolate-covered espresso beans, found on the wall with small batches of other prepackaged candies.

Chow has been open at their Elmwood Avenue location for nearly a year and they’re excited to meet some new customers and welcome back some familiar faces tomorrow. Please let them know when you stop in that you are part of the Buffalo Cash Mob (simply as a means for them to tally the impact of the effort) and pick up some fine, handmade chocolates or desserts and ruin your New Year’s Resolution in style!

Our next Buffalo Cash Mob nomination and voting process will begin in two weeks and we encourage those who supported our runners-up this week, West Side Stories and Record Theatre to support them again.

Voting will continue through 3PM tomorrow and the winner of the visit from the Cash Mob will be announced at the close of voting. We’ll advise the business of the impending visit and ask you to visit the business between the hours of 4-6PM on Friday. I’ll be on location during those hours to thank you for supporting local businesses that have invested in our community, but be sure to tell the staff that you’re part of the #BuffCashMob.